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Monday, February 18, 2013

Predicting the Future

*Take a moment to enjoy a post from guest author, Jessica Subject.*

One
of the joys of writing speculative fiction—which includes science fiction
romance—is that as the author, we get to predict the future. And I’m not just
talking about future technologies such as spaceflight and gadgetry that is based
on science. We can also predict the future on a social level. This includes
governments, religion, and even romance. Will the class structure of society
become more distinct? When we do meet beings from other planets, will discrimination
play a factor in our interactions?

I
look at these social aspects in many of my stories, including my upcoming
Elitia/1Night Stand story, Another Night, Another Planet. And, of course, I like
to add in some futuristic technology, too.

Here’s an excerpt from
Another Night, Another Planet:

Buzzing through the
heavy traffic on her hover bike, [Ava] reached the spaceport in record time.
Perfect. She found a parking locker in the cold, dank underground lot to
squeeze her bike into, then dashed toward security. If she could pick up a
faint signal, maybe she would have a chance to check her email one last time
before take-off. Unlike the guests on board, she couldn’t afford to connect her
tablet from space to the wireless system on the mother traveler, not since
she’d paid for her one-night stand. Though once a week, all crew were allowed a
video call back to Earth. And she called her mom and dad.

She’d been raised by
middle-class parents with little chance of furthering her education past what
the government paid for. When her father had received a pink slip from his
employer of twenty star cycles, any hope she’d held onto of going to college
flew out the window. And without that diploma, she could only find meaningless
jobs that paid less than the effort she put into them.

Bags checked, Ava dashed
down the plain, white corridors of the employee level, pausing for the vacuum
seals to release on doors along the way, until she reached her room for the
duration of her stay. After thumbing the security pad to open the door, she
crashed on the bed to the left, the right one belonging to Michelle, her best
friend, who had convinced her to apply to housekeeping aboard Star Spirit.
They’d been interviewed together, and started space training the very next day.

Four star cycles later,
she was all set to venture out on her seventh tour. Though she didn’t have much
of a life traveling through space, the pay was better than she would find
anywhere on Earth. Her basic needs of food and shelter were met, and when she
returned home, she always split her earnings between her parents and her
savings account. She couldn’t let the people who had raised her suffer because
she’d found an opportunity they hadn’t.

Tell me: What societal
changes would you like to see in the future?

Another Night, Another
Planet Blurb:

Limited by status…

Ava is a housekeeper
aboard Star Spirit, a luxury cruise ship that travels between the Milky Way and
the Belvarian System. Coming from a middle-class family on Earth, she is
considered by passengers as nothing more than an object to be tossed away when
they’re done with her.

Shunned because of his lineage…

Being banned from
several planets across the universe has made it hard for Nate to run his
interstellar shipping business. But the DNA of an exterminated race runs
through his blood, giving him a diluted form of their powers, and leaving him
labeled as a terrorist.

Both searching for the one…

Through her 1Night Stand
dating service, Madame Evangeline matches these two together for a celestial
escape on the pleasure planet, Elatia.

Will Ava and Nate find
what they’re looking for, or will their date go up in flames?

Jessica Subject is the
author of contemporary and science fiction romance, ranging from sweet to
erotica. In her stories, you could meet clones, or a sexy alien or two. You may
even be transported to another planet for a romantic rendezvous.

When Jessica isn't
reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to get out and walk.
Fast. But she just may slow down if there is a waterfall nearby.

Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and
two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers. You can find
her at jessicasubject.com and on
twitter @jsubject.

Thank you, Taryn! Though, I must admit, Heather from Decadent Publishing asked if I would write a story that combines the two lines. I had to work within the boundaries of both lines. And Another Night, Another Planet was the story that came out.